Monday, 26 July 2010

Bob Dylan - BBC TV Centre 1965

This specific recording of Bob Dylan has an interesting history to go with it. The actual performance was back on June 1st 1965 at the BBC Television Centre in London with a studio audience.

The set was then broadcast in two parts on BBC TV in the UK on the 15th and 26th June 1965. As far as I can find out the BBC broadcast the second half of the recording first.

The notes that accompanied this recording provide the actual 'history' of this specific recording as follows.

This specific audio track was originally recorded on the 15th & 26th June 1965, in Hull, Yorkshire, UK. using a KB domestic 1/4in. recorder with a BSR tape deck, running at a speed of 3.75ips via a line connection to Rediffusion wired system junction box (TV set).

This tape, while in great quality, came in the wrong speed and needed some work before it was listenable.Volume, speed & pitch corrected in London, U.K. 10th - 12th September 2005 using CoolEdit Pro 2.0. Some additional remastering including fade-in, fade-outs at start & end of disc were done. Noise or hiss reduction has not been performed, in order to best preserve the atmosphere and feel of the original tape which this can sometimes take away.

With the nonsense that surrounded Bob Dylan 'going electric' at the time, perhaps the real beauty of this solo performance was the chance just to do his thing with a smaller audience. This is a delight to listen to, was it really 45 years ago?

There are a number of versions of this performance from different original sources, this is the best copy we have heard. Italian bootleg label 'Great Dane Records' included this in the 14 CD box set 'Bob Dylan 1965 Revisited'. As with so many Bob performances they are well circulated.

There were also 2 shows by Joan Baez broadcast sequentially by the BBC. I think she "went first" but I cannot quite remember.This is in fact the tv appearance which Albert Grossman, ably abetted by Tito Burns, negotiates in the film Don´t Look Back. Though it seems that Granada won on screen, in truth it was the Beeb which did.